Once Upon An Enchanted Ball ( A Rise of Red/Glassheart Fanfic)

Chapter 4: No Attachment

A trail of papers stretched from the front of Chloe's door all the way to the foot of her bed. And there she sat, at the edge of her bed, dissecting every item on the meticulous bucket list now laid out before her. Each task felt heavier than the last, especially now that she realised she'd have to tackle them on her own.

In the beginning, her hopes had been high, but as she stared down the list, optimism was becoming harder to hold onto, especially given her circumstances. Maybe, she thought, things were better this way-but the sinking feeling in her chest suggested otherwise.

"Jeez, how does Bridget do this?" Chloe groans, flopping onto her bed. It was times like this when she hoped her roommate wasn't such a social butterfly. While Chloe spent her time after classes drowning in her school work, Bridget was at club meetings, volunteering, and maybe solving world hunger for all Chloe knows.

But what she does know right now is that doing this alone is going to take a lot more than optimism. If only Fairy GodMother could hear her prayers right now, she would send Bridget straight to her to help with all of this planning. And although Chloe expects her wishes to fall on deaf ears- a knock rings through the dorm.

It's enough to send Chloe flying from her bed. Of course, Fairy Godmother would give her a solid, family tradition that she was meant to live on. She rushes to her door, almost tripping over the long list lying in the process before grasping onto her doorknob for dear life, opening the door to be faced with...Red?

"Sup." Red's smirk is subtle but it's enough to make Chloe's eyes twitch.

Red, the same girl who left her to accomplish this on her own, was now leant up against her dorm's door with such a smug expression. Chloe feels the heat rise to her cheeks, slowly but surely. It was one thing for Red to just show up to her room but it was another thing to be so casual about it.

Chloe can't help but chuckle, "Sup? Sup isn't going to cut it", her voice is filled with malice and Red raises an eyebrow, now standing up straight.

"Okay then. Nice night we're having?" She tries once more.

"Try again." Chloe counters.

What more could she say? Red found it rather redundant to spend her time sharing casualties. So, she assumed that may be not what Chloe wanted to hear and tried one last time.

Red crossed her arms, staring Chloe up and down, "I like your pyjamas."

"Are you that stubborn that you can't apologise?! Also, stop looking at my pyjamas..." Chloe would rather not have the scarlet-haired girl stare at her blue fluffy pyjamas, decorated with golden crowns. It was embarrassing, doubly so by the way Red continued to stare her up and down, her cheeks flushed even redder at the realisation.

Red rolls her eyes, "I'm here now aren't I? That's worth something."

Red was determined to hold her ground and not apologise. As her mother often said, "Apologies are for the weak." Though Red occasionally found herself apologising, she was too stubborn to utter a single word this time, especially considering she was being generous enough to actually show up and help Chloe after all this time.

"Yeah you're here, an entire day after you left me alone with this ginormous list!" Chloe barricades even further, her face beginning to flush for an entirely different reason. Red can't find a way to sombre the other girl's frustration because even if she was being stubborn she couldn't help but agree. Maybe that was a crappy thing for her to do.

"Well, you're not doing it alone anymore." Red tries her hardest to get on Chloe's good side without starting another disagreement like yesterday. Chloe gives a blank stare, a bit befuddled by how Red was managing to joke about such a dire matter.